Polish ex-minister flees Hungary to the US after PM Magyar says country won’t protect people wanted elsewhere

Poland’s former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted on several criminal charges in his home country, has fled Hungary to the United States, he confirmed on Sunday, after being granted asylum from former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s government last year.“I am in the United States,” Ziobro told rightwing Polish broadcaster Republika. “I arrived yesterday, and this is my third time travelling around the country,” he said.Ziobro faces up to 25 years in prison in Poland if convicted of the charges laid against him. They include abuse of power, leading an organised criminal enterprise and using funds meant for crime victims to buy Israeli Pegasus spyware, allegedly to monitor political opponents.He has rejected the charges against him, accusing the centrist Polish government of conducting a witch-hunt against conservatives.After Orbán’s party was ousted from power in an election in April, Hungary’s new prime minister, Péter Magyar – who was sworn in on Saturday – said that Hungary would no longer protect people wanted elsewhere.“Hungary will no longer be a dumping ground for internationally wanted criminals,” he told journalists the day after his victory, naming as examples Ziobro and his former deputy, Marcin Romanowski, suspected of embezzling nearly 40m euros ($47m).The Republika broadcaster reported earlier on Sunday that Ziobro was in the US, while liberal broadcaster TVN24 published a photo of Ziobro at Newark Liberty International Airport, which it said had been taken by another traveller.It is unclear how Ziobro managed to travel to the US, as Poland had previously said his travel documents – including his Polish and diplomatic passports – had been revoked.Local news site Onet reported that Ziobro had received a US journalist visa linked to Republika. The broadcaster, aligned with the Polish right, later announced it had hired the ex-justice minister as its political commentator in the US.The current Polish justice minister, Waldemar Zurek, wrote on X that Poland “will reach out to the USA and Hungary with questions regarding the legal basis that enabled Zbigniew Ziobro to … enter the United States despite lacking valid documents”.“We will not cease or efforts to ensure that he and Mr. Marcin Romanowski are held accountable before the Polish justice system,” he said.Earlier, Zurek told the Polsat broadcaster: “If it is confirmed that Ziobro is in the USA, then [Poland] will request his extradition.”Ziobro was the leader of the ultra-conservative Sovereign Poland party, a junior coalition partner of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and served as justice minister and attorney general between 2015 and 2023.He is also known as the architect of contentious judicial reforms, which sparked a standoff between Poland and the European Commission.Asked by Republika about his potential extradition, Ziobro replied: “I am ready to appear before any court, and an American independent court is certainly an independent court.”“If they want to initiate extradition proceedings, by all means,” he added, calling extradition cases in US courts “a demanding procedure”.